‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ Has the Highest Test Screening Score of Any Marvel Movie

Test screening metrics don’t always accurately predict the quality of a movie —Batman v. Supermanreportedly got a standing ovation during its test screening, which wasn’t exactly indicative of audiences’ reactions once the movie premiered. But Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has accomplished an even bigger feat: a coveted perfect 100 score after testing audiences, the highest of any Marvel movie to date.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Guardians 2 outranks the scores of both Iron Man 3 and The Avengers, which had scores in the high 90s, and is the only Marvel movie to get a perfect score. Again, this isn’t necessarily indicative of its quality, but it’s also not that surprising. The first was a technicolor crowdpleaser, awash in sarcasm and classic rock hits and such a welcome respite from the main Avengers storyline that it was bound to be a success. From what we’ve seen in the trailers for the next one, it looks like more of the same winning formula as the first.

There is a bit of a catch, though. Marvel conducts test screenings slightly differently from other companies: instead of gathering a herd of random people, the studio has what it calls “friends and families” screenings of people close to the company itself, which keeps any leak-worthy information from getting out to the general public. But this also means that their movies’ scores can’t really be compared to the scores of other movies that employ a more random screening process, only its own. Still, it’s an impressive accomplishment to not only have beaten the two highest-rated, but gotten a perfect score.